Kate English leverages more than 25 years of experience as an employee benefits attorney to guide global public companies and privately held companies of all sizes through Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), tax, and executive compensation matters.
Clients turn to Kate for advice and counseling on employee benefit plan matters, including compliance with ERISA, tax, and other related laws and support in litigation and collective bargaining. She also advises on compliance with the reporting, fiduciary responsibility, and prohibited transaction requirements of Title I of ERISA and assists employers with matters relating to multiemployer plans.
Kate represents clients before federal agencies responsible for regulating employee benefit plans. For companies going through mergers and acquisitions, she assists with assessing liabilities related to employee benefits and determining how to best transition benefits in such circumstances.
Specifically, Kate’s experience includes:
- Advising on the design and ongoing administration of all kinds of employee benefit plans, including defined benefit pension plans, 401(k)/profit sharing plans, health plans, other welfare benefits, severance benefits, nonqualified deferred compensation plans, bonus plans, short-term and long-term incentive plans, and equity compensation plans.
- Guiding companies through defined benefit pension plan de-risking projects, such as lump-sum windows, annuity purchase transactions, and plan terminations, including preparing related plan amendments, required participant notices, and government filings, as well as advising on annuity transaction procedures and contracts.
- Designing fiduciary compliance and training programs, attending fiduciary committee meetings, and advising on fiduciary best practices.
- Advising fiduciary committees on matters relating to 401(k) plan investment fund review and plan fees.
- Representing clients in matters before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on issues ranging from audits, voluntary corrections under the IRS and DOL correction programs, and reportable events and PBGC liability issues.
- Advising on employee benefits and executive compensation matters relating to corporate transactions, including post-closing matters concerning the integration of new benefit platforms.
- Counseling on executive compensation matters, focusing on Internal Revenue Code Section 409A compliance, including for employment, retention, and severance agreements, and supplemental executive retirement plans, as well as assisting with the disclosure of executive compensation required by securities laws.
Before joining Epstein Becker Green, Kate was a partner and a member of the board of directors of a national law firm, where she focused on employee benefits and executive compensation. She also served as the Chair of that firm’s Business Division and, in that role, managed approximately half of the firm’s attorneys and paralegals.
